Omar Ibrahim Mohsin

Omar Ibrahim Mohsin, who also goes by the name Khalil Anas, is a Somali man born on October 1, 1998, and living in Bari while working as a janitor. He was arrested on terrorism charges on December 13, 2018, because of his links to the Islamic State in Somalia and his contacts with one of its operating cells. The investigation conducted by the DIGOS of Bari confirmed the defendant’s affiliation with the Islamic State.
Mohsin has a brother, Osman Khalil Abidirauf, detained in Somalia because of his membership to ISIS. In 2016, he was an activist for Daesh in Libya and he was allegedly trained with the aim of coming to Italy. Once arrived in Sicily, Mohsin went to the province of Forlì-Cesena where he received a residence permit on humanitarian grounds and for a few months he lived in an immigrant reception centre.
Later, he moved to Carapelle (FG) as a seasonal worker to harvest tomatoes and then he relocated to Bari where he currently lives. Amongst his contacts there are Abu Ayman Al-Kinye and Abu Hatem Majerteny, both flagged as contacts belonging to the Islamic State.
For his affiliation with the Islamic State, Mohsin was charged with art. 270 bis of the Italian Criminal Code. During the police investigation, the authorities conducted a social media analysis of the defendant’s profiles, revealing an impressive number of jihadist material dowloaded on his devices. Amongst these, there were weekly editions of ISIS’ official magazine Al-Naba; several nasheeds urging people to commit terrorist crimes, which would also be used to indoctrinate a person the police identified as “Fra”; a couple of sermons of preachers and ideologues close to Al-Qaeda, and other audio files of jihadist origins downloadable only by those with access to IS-linked archives as the material is protected. Mohsin’s devices also contained pictures of Daesh, of the organisation’s media channel AMAQ, and news articles about attacks against the PKK.
During police interrogation, the defendant denied having dowloaded these files but admitted that jihad is needed because it is God’s will and, overall, these files clearly prove the defendant’s radical and religious fundamental ideology. The indictment also points out to the link between the defendant and several jihadist groups operating in Kenya and Somalia, as testified by a WhatsApp chat with a man called Hamza, a known ISIS handler. The latter cautions Mohsin to be careful because he is being tracked by the police and advises him to change phone numbers because something happened to one of their friends that were attending the fundamentalist Madrasa Nabi Yusuf.
To further frame the defendant’s affiliation, there is the transaction of $100 to a friend in Nairobi to bail him out of jail and a WhatsApp chat in which the defendant tells his interlocutor, Big Debro, that the communication methods proposed are “against the principles of terrorism”, although the defendant denies they were talking about terrorism.
Finally, the most worrying evidence comprising this indictment lies in a wiretapped conversation of December 2018 in which the defendant is talking with “Fra” about committing violence against westerners without having Muslim casualties. Mohsin fantasises about putting a bomb in St. Peter’s church in Rome and later he searches for directions on how to get to Rome from Bari, once again proving his adherence to ISIS’ fundamentalist ideology and hatred towards Christians.
The aforementioned jihadist material found in Mohsin’s devices has been used to radicalise and enlist “Fra”, short for Francesco or fratello, brother in Italian. During a trip to Forlì on November 26, 2018, audio surveillance picked up a conversation between Mohsin and “Fra” in which the former translated and explained various nasheeds and prayers they were listening to about martyrdom and the fight against nonbelievers. Overall, from audio surveillance it emerges that Mohsin’s aim was to transform “Fra” into a jihadist ready for martyrdom. Thus, it becomes central to the defendant’s proselytism the conversation he had with “Fra” in December picked up by audio surveillance about committing violence against non-believers whilst sparing Muslims.
Lastly, for having shared a photo on Facebook praising jihadist martyrdom in 2017, the defendant was charged with art. 414 of the Criminal Code, as the police declared this to be clear evidence of his radical and religious fundamental ideology.
During the interrogation with the police, Mohsin denied being a terrorist and wanting to commit a terrorist act in Rome. Although he confessed adhering to Sunni Islam, he also admitted trying to convert people to Islam, thus justifying his behaviour towards “Fra”. However, the preliminary investigation judge believed the all the evidence gathered confirmed Mohsin’s role within the terrorist organisation which was not only ideological but it had been concretised by the propaganda and proselytism aimed at instigation to armed jihad he conducted towards “Fra”, as well as the apology of terrorism. Therefore, the judge confirmed the pre-trial detention for Mohsin in December 2018 on the basis of a concrete and immediate danger of escape and gravity of offence.
In 2020, Mohsin was found guilty and sentenced to eight years and eight months.